Last night, I’d had no choice but to go back to the B&B. Jacob had said, “The others are coming,” which made me believe there were more than just a few vampires in Silver Creek.
Which meant what the man in Chicago had told me was right. There was a whole clan of vampires in Silver Creek. He’d made them sound dangerous. Jacob made them look almost like regular human beings.
I couldn’t believe he, of all people, would hurt someone else. Not when he’d save one of the most special people in my life.
Regardless, Jacob must have trusted me enough to let me go. Alone.
I realized he was distracted but leaving him was almost painful. When my whole being gravitated toward him the closer we were, it was difficult to walk out the door. But it seemed almost as difficult for him, as he’d walked me out to my car and then stood there watching as I’d pulled away.
He looked almost vulnerable, standing under the dim sky with his hands clasped behind his back and eyes locked on my car. I knew without a doubt, though, that there was more strength in his pinky than most men possessed in their entire body.
When I’d gotten back to the B&B, I hadn’t seen Maddox anywhere. I wondered if he, too, was part of the group going to talk with Jacob since I already knew he was friends with Chris.
I’d fallen asleep on the bed, surrounded by papers, and wishing I knew when I’d Jacob again.
I dreamed of him, of walking hand in hand through the forest behind his house. The sun shone down on us even as the warmth from touching each other swirled through our bodies.
He stopped me by a tree and I leaned back, the bark catching on my shirt, just before his lips closed over mine. It was like falling, a feeling so amazing, it was like the world dropping away around me. I wanted more. I wanted everything in that moment.
I wanted to know what it would feel like to have him inside of me. To touch him everywhere and feel the warmth on every part of my body.
Then we heard a noise and he whipped around, baring his teeth. He snarled as someone came into the nearby clearing. The same man who’d told me about the vampire clan.
They charged at each other, fast enough I could hardly see their movements. They crashed into trees and flattened the mossy forest floor as they fought hand to hand.
The other man spun around, whipping a sword from the sheath on his back. In one smooth movement, he’d sliced off Jacob’s head. It rolled on the forest floor, all the way to my feet, lifeless eyes staring up at me.
It was like someone had stabbed me through the heart. I felt to my knees, completely and utterly heartbroken.
I woke up with gasp, or something more like a sob, lodged in my throat. Arms came around me in the darkness, and I knew immediately it was Jacob. It smelled like him, and I felt the strength in his grasp, as well as the warmth spreading to my cold extremities.
“It was a nightmare,” he soothed.
“I thought—” My breath caught as I turned into his embrace. I’d thought he died. It had felt so real.
My voice was too rough, full of emotion, of the loss I still felt from the dream. I’d never hurt so bad, it felt like my heart was bruised—sliced in half, just like Jacob had been.
I rested my cheek on his chest, clinging to him like a little kid, and feeling very much like I had when I’d thought I was losing my mom.
“I’m here now,” he said softly, his lips touching my ear.
“How did you get in?” I gave a choked laugh. “Or is that a stupid question? You can probably go wherever you want.”
“I usually have to be invited, but I’ve already been in here before. Hawk,” he said, concern in his voice. “What did you dream about?”
“You,” I said honestly. “I dreamed about you and—and you were hurt—” I couldn’t finish. Seeing him like that, even in my dream, felt as though someone had taken away everything. Like it would have felt to lose my mother.
“Hawk.” He combed his fingers through my hair. “I’m okay. I’m here. I’m safe.”
I blew out a shaky breath. I didn’t care how he got in, I was just relieved he was here. That he was safe, next to me, with his strong arms around me.
“I didn’t like that,” I murmured.
“What?”
“Being away from you.”
He was silent for a moment, and I was afraid I’d upset him. Or that he didn’t feel the same. But finally, he said, “Me either. I had to see you—that’s why I came. And when I felt your distress…it worried me. I had to come in here to see you.”
I shifted to look up at him, only able to make out the shine of his eyes in the darkness. “You could feel that?”
“Yes. I could tell something was wrong. I…” He hesitated again, choosing his words carefully. Or maybe censoring what he was going to say. “We have a connection.”
“But you can’t tell me about it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“You’re still not telling me everything.” I sat up, pulling away from him, automatically missing the warmth. “This—I can’t do it. I can’t make sense of any of it.”
I reached to turn on the lamp by the bed. He looked away with a grimace.
“Sorry,” I murmured.
“It’s fine. It just takes a minute to adjust. Our eyes are more sensitive to the light than yours.”
Well, that was something. He wasn’t keeping everything from me. But he wasn’t being completely open either.
“What happened yesterday?” I asked, running a hand through my hair and straightening my shirt. “After I left?”
His gaze moved away from mine. My jaw clenched. I wasn’t sure what this was—this thing between us—but it wasn’t working for me. If I kept going like this, I wasn’t going to be able to function at all.
This wasn’t a normal crush or intrigue for a story I was writing. No, this was full-blown infatuation I couldn’t control. But it felt even deeper than that. Like an intrinsic sense that I was meant to know Jacob—to be with him—even against all odds.
After all, I’d been looking for him my entire life and then I’d found him. It was meant to be.
“I had to speak with my clan,” he said softly.
“And?”
“And it wasn’t easy.”
I stared at the window, watching a sliver of light rise above the horizon. Sunrise was coming. And I was more confused than ever.
“I think you should go,” I said as I stood. I had to force the words because it was the exact opposite of what I wanted.
He was up in the blink of an eye, confusion on his face. “Are you okay?”
I swallowed and nodded, brushing off his concern. “Of course. It was just a dream.” A heart-wrenching dream that would haunt me the rest of my life, but what could I do? “I’ll get over it.”
His mouth hovered open, like there were a million words on his tongue and he had nowhere to start.
“I have research to do,” I told him. Answers to find that I clearly wasn’t getting here. Maybe Maya would speak with me. “I promise I won’t tell anyone that you’re here with your clan or—”
“No.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
He dropped his chin to his chest, clasping his hands behind his back in a stance I was growing used to. Which was a problem in and of itself. I couldn’t grow used to him. Every moment I spent with him was another moment of heartbreak I was going to have to face later when we were separated.
“I’m terrible at this,” he murmured. “I’ve spent most of my years trying to hide my secret from your kind, and then teaching my clan to do the same. We are not meant to mix with humans—at least, that’s what I told myself this whole time. And then…” He looked up, something akin to anguish in his eyes. “My companion—my best friend—fell in love with a human. Not just fell in love, he was Fated. It changed everything I believed about humans and our relationship with them. Now, the same thing has happened with me.”
My heart rate picked up. Fated? That sounded so intimate. So…intense. And a perfect word for how I felt about Jacob. I had no idea it had a name.
“You mean…” I pointed to him and then pointed to myself. “You and I…”
“Yes. We found each other for a reason.” He unclasped his hands and lifted them in appeal. “I told my clan. They were split on what to do—how to handle this. Either I can walk away, leaving you without the answers you need.”
“Or?”
“Or I can accept my fate and be with the person I’m meant to be with, even if the boundaries of natural law separate us.”
I pulled in a slow, shaky breath. “And did you choose?”
“I did.”
This was it. I stood on the precipice, prepared to have my heart broken. But then he spoke again, and I was filled with the same warmth I experienced every time we touched.
“I choose you.”